Fate of the Force
by jacksparrowlovesme
Summary: Set after the events of The Last Jedi, Rey and Ben Solo must come to terms with one another. The force has willed it. Rated M for later chapters.


*Rey*

The Millenium Falcon was completely overcrowded. Several people needed medical attention, with Rose being the most severe. Finn refused to leave her side. Rey let a very excited Poe sit in the captain's chair and fly the Falcon with Chewie so that she could sit with Finn for a few minutes. Leia was on the other side, trying to do what she could for Rose through the force. The bleeding had slowed somewhat, and Rose was a little more stable, but she still had a long way to go.

"She needs a medical droid, possibly a bacta tank," Leia murmured softly. She looked at Rey. "We need to hide in plain sight."

Rey nodded. "Where do you suggest, General?"

"Chandrila," the general replied, looking pensive. "We need to see an old friend."

Rey stood up and gave Finn a reassuring, sisterly pat on the shoulder. He looked up briefly, his eyes sadder than she had ever seen them. Before he could say anything, Leia touched his right temple. Finn crumpled to the floor, and began snoring.

"He needs rest too," Leia had a hint of a smile, despite the losses she had so recently suffered. "Looks like he's a snorer. He's a good kid, I like him."

"He's like a brother," Rey responded as she grabbed his wrists and tried to drag him to an empty bunk. The General raised an eyebrow. "There's an easier way to do that."

Leia closed her eyes and reached out with her left hand. Her ring, an heirloom of the lost Royal House of Organa, glinted in the dim light of the Millenium Falcon. Finn was raised gently in the air and tucked into the bunk by invisible hands.

Confident that Finn was fine, Rey sat down next to the general. "I don't have that kind of control. I didn't get a lot of training. Luke wasn't very interested in teaching me."

Leia put a comforting hand over Rey's own. "Luke suffered so many losses the day that my son did what he did. He couldn't bear to repeat that. It broke him."

Rey couldn't bear to look at the older woman "Your son-"

"Ben will come back if and when he's ready. I've tried to reach him, Han and Luke tried to reach him. I suspect you've tried too." Rey looked into her face, and saw Ben's dark eyes looking back at her. She felt a massive pang in her stomach. "Everyone always said 'he's too much like Vader' or 'He's too much like Han.' He's too much like me. He needs to realize the error of his ways on his own terms. I'm his mother. I can't believe he's truly lost." Leia paused, her features sagging for the briefest moment, before stiffening back into steely resolve. "In the meantime, we fight the First Order. We can't let Snoke have an army at his disposal," Leia continued.

Rey opened her mouth, prepared to tell Leia everything: Snoke's death, Kylo Ren heading up the first order. All of it. The Resistance General deserved to know the truth. But Ben Solo's mother had been dealt enough blows in the last few days to last a lifetime. She closed her mouth into a tight smile, lips closed. She'd tell Leia later, privately, about everything her son had been up to.

"I'll teach you everything I can. We have those books, and we have what little I can show you." Leia looked almost youthful now, reminiscing about happier times. "I was Luke's first student. Right after the second Death Star was destroyed, and we were battling the remnants of the Empire. It was just the four of us, Luke, Han, Lando, and I. Trying to restore the light, and the Republic at the same time. But when I had Ben, it all became too much. I focused on the political aspects of the war, kept my son safe as long as I could…" Leia broke off, the conversation becoming too much to bear. Rey sat in uncomfortable silence next to her, the two of them grieving for the person buried deep inside of Kylo Ren.

She could swear she heard Maz Kanata's voice in her ear: _Whoever you're waiting for on Jakku… they're never coming back. But there's someone who still could._ She was angry at the thought. She had been dragged all over the galaxy, rejected at every turn, nearly killed repeatedly, and she'd never wanted to even leave home. What was her place in all this, and why did she have to be dragged into this fight in the first place? She clenched her jaws tightly together, an image of a tall, black robed man with an outstretched hand.

Then, Rey heard a different voice whisper _**JOIN ME**_ right in her ear. She looked around, afraid that Ben would be standing right next to her, giving her secret away on this tiny, cramped ship. But there was no one there. Leia saw the tanned scavenger's face go pale.

"Rey, what's wrong?" She asked concernedly, but Rey shook her head and smiled.

"Nothing, bit tired from the events of the day. I'll just go set our course for Chandrila." Rey stood up and stretched, yawning pointedly. She walked out the door, and paused. Ben was standing in the corridor of the Falcon.

"Please-" He began, and she thought she would scream, but she set her jaw, and walked right past him, trying to close the connection. He disappeared. She reached her destination, and Chewie was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, but Poe was sitting behind the captain's chair with his arms crossed. The look on his face was sulky. One of the porgs hopped up on his lap and crowed. He irritatedly brushed it off. Chewie growled at her.

"He says you're not allowed to touch anything anymore. What did you do?" Rey asked bemusedly. Poe glared at a spot on the wall as though he was having the worst week of his life. Which he was. Chewie chuffed a bit at Poe's attitude.

"The hyperdrive disables the shields, and activating the shields turns the power off to something random for five minutes. The radar scanning leaks some kind of gas from the switch, there are wires and parts coming out of the control panel, and these things have infested the place. We've been in dead space for fifteen minutes. And then he threw me back here." Poe grumbled. "And you're telling me that _this_ is the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs? There's no way Han Solo flew this ship anywhere. I'm surprised it can fly at all."

"If you've ever met Han Solo, you would absolutely believe it." Rey couldn't help but smirk a bit at this, and Chewbacca gave his own garbled wookie laugh. Poe rolled his eyes a bit and got up to check on Finn and Rose. Rey sat down in the pilot seat and looked at Chewie. She bit her bottom lip. "Chewie, this ship is as much yours as it was Han's. If you have a family or something that you want to get back to, I understand. You could drop us off at our next location and be done with us."

Chewie gave a soft _Mrawwr_ at this. He growled that he and Han never should have left, and that he would stay and help Leia, his life debt now extended to Han's family. He looked her in the eye, and there was an unspoken name between them. _Ben._ Rey realized that Chewbacca must have known Ben all his life, and was tempted to ask what he had been like as a boy. But given the events of the last few days, she was sure the answer would be painful for both of them. She nodded. She carved her face into a very businesslike mask.

"Right. Well, the General wants to go to Chandrila, then." She turned and put the coordinates into the NAVI. The computer found its path, and they put the ship into hyperdrive. Now it was just a matter of time. Chewie got up to find a bunk, or something to eat. Just to get out of the chair really. Rey opted to stay in the cockpit. She sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She just needed a little rest. She was tired of thinking about Ben. His face swam before her closed eyes, pleading without words. She settled further into the seat, getting comfortable, and when she opened her eyes again, she was in a warm, dark room that smelled faintly of sulfur.


End file.
